Pilgrim's Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC) Q4 2023 Earnings Conference Call February 26, 2024 9:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Fabio Sandri - President & CEO

Matt Galvanoni - CFO

Andy Rojeski - Head of Strategy, IR, and Net Zero Programs

Conference Call Participants

Ben Theurer - Barclays

Ben Bienvenu - Stephens, Inc.

Andrew Strelzik - BMO Capital Markets

Peter Galbo - Bank of America

Adam Samuelson - Goldman Sachs

Priya Ohri Gupta - Barclays

Operator

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2023 Pilgrim's Pride Earnings Conference Call and Webcast. [Operator Instructions] At the company's request, this call is being recorded. Please note that the slides referenced during today's call are available for download from the Investors section of the company's website at www.Pilgrim’s.com. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions.

At this time, I would like to turn the floor over to Andrew Rojeski, Head of Strategy, Investor Relations and Net Zero Programs for Pilgrim's.

Andy Rojeski

Good morning, and thank you for joining us today as we review our operating and financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended on December 31, 2023. This morning, we issued a press release providing an overview of our financial performance for the quarter and the year, including a reconciliation of any non-GAAP measures we may discuss. A copy of the release is available on our website at ir.Pilgrims.com, along with slides for reference. These items have also been filed as Form 8-Ks and are available online at sec.gov. Fabio Sandri, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Matt Galvanoni, Chief Financial Officer, will present on today's call.

Before we begin our prepared remarks, I would like to remind everyone of our safe harbor disclaimer. Today's call may contain certain forward-looking statements that represent our outlook and current expectations as of the date of this release. Other additional factors not anticipated by management may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in these forward-looking statements. Further information concerning these factors have been provided in this morning’s press release, our Form 10-K, and regular filings with the SEC.

I would now like to turn the call over to Fabio Sandri.

Fabio Sandri

Thank you, Andy. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. For the fourth quarter of 2023, we reported net revenues of $4.5 billion. We had adjusted EBITDA of $310 million, and our adjusted EBITDA margin was 6.8%. Our Q4 performance demonstrated the continued effectiveness of our strategies of portfolio diversification, key customer focus, and operational excellence, to create more stable results. The US portfolio improved, given growth with key customers in Case Ready and enhanced production efficiencies, with operational excellence in Big Bird. Our efforts to further add value to our portfolio through the Prepared Foods continued to gain momentum, given the growth of our branded offerings through retail and increased presence in food service. In our geographical diversification, the UK and European business continue to drive profitable growth from the impact of operational excellence efforts throughout our manufacturing network, increasing the strength of key customers, and diversification through continued progress of our branded offerings. As for Mexico, the business in the quarter was impacted by weakened supply and demand fundamentals, but our efforts to diversify our portfolio through brands continued to flourish, as both new and existing offerings grew within the trade and customers alike, and we continue to grow with key customers across retail and food service. Our investments in operational excellence efforts to expand capacity and cultivate redundancy in live operation remain on track.